Skiing
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10,389 Posts
Hi Bagpuss
There are certainly members who have used their motorhome for skiing holidays and I hope someone comes along soon.
This is a bad time for information gathering as so many folk are away.
Don't lose hope and if it seems you aren't getting the information you want then answer your own post with something like "I'm still looking for information" or something similar.
This will bring your post back to the top of the list!
There are certainly members who have used their motorhome for skiing holidays and I hope someone comes along soon.
This is a bad time for information gathering as so many folk are away.
Don't lose hope and if it seems you aren't getting the information you want then answer your own post with something like "I'm still looking for information" or something similar.
This will bring your post back to the top of the list!
Joined
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18 Posts
skiing
Bagpuss,
Good question, something I'm seriously thinking about myself next winter despite the van only being grade 2 thermal insulation. Of the limited research I've done so far, I think there is an 'all year' site in Chamonix, France (if you google 'chamonix campsites', you should turn it up). The next stage I think is to research relative costs ie ferries, fuel, tolls etc to see how these compare to SleazyJet ! I guess there will be a motorhoming skier along shortly to advise....
Bill
Bagpuss,
Good question, something I'm seriously thinking about myself next winter despite the van only being grade 2 thermal insulation. Of the limited research I've done so far, I think there is an 'all year' site in Chamonix, France (if you google 'chamonix campsites', you should turn it up). The next stage I think is to research relative costs ie ferries, fuel, tolls etc to see how these compare to SleazyJet ! I guess there will be a motorhoming skier along shortly to advise....
Bill
I don't know if this will help you. We were in the French Alps from 26th March until 3rd April snowshoeing. I don't ski, vertigo and claustrophobia, so no heights and no cable cars etc. We tried Chamonix first and went with a list of campsites downloaded from www.chamonix.com (great site updated daily re weather conditions and snow reports) Unfortunately, most of the campsites are closed during the winter season and one which should have been open was closed for refurbishment (I think). The towns Aire de Service was "out of order" We parked up in the bus park (on the road to Argentiere) beside all the French vans. All of the low level snow had melted by this time and we decided to then go to Samoens (www.samoens.com). The campsite at Samoens is very close to the cable cars and they advertise that you can ski from the door of you van. We stayed there one night to fill and empty the cassette and waste water. Now for the best all 
On to Flaine (www.flaine.com) (be sure to click on "winter" on the left side toolbar) Flaine does not have any campsites but plenty of French motorhomes parked up in the bus park, take a ticket on the way in and pay just before you leave. No Aire de Service but no-one seemed to mind. We have two Thetford cassettes so staying there was not too much a problem. We were careful with using the water though. The practice/childrens ski slope is literally "on your doorstep" and it's only a couple of hundred metres to the chair lifts and cable cars. There are plenty of eating places including pizza and burger bars and restaurants. Happy skiing
On to Flaine (www.flaine.com) (be sure to click on "winter" on the left side toolbar) Flaine does not have any campsites but plenty of French motorhomes parked up in the bus park, take a ticket on the way in and pay just before you leave. No Aire de Service but no-one seemed to mind. We have two Thetford cassettes so staying there was not too much a problem. We were careful with using the water though. The practice/childrens ski slope is literally "on your doorstep" and it's only a couple of hundred metres to the chair lifts and cable cars. There are plenty of eating places including pizza and burger bars and restaurants. Happy skiing winter sites
Hi Bagpuss
As far as I can tell there are lots of Aires to stop at which have some facilities. UNfortunately I havnt used these as I take my small kids with me and I like to have the relative luxury of a campsite during the winter.
Ive been to a couple of good winter campsites. The first I went to was great for sking at Meribel. The site has showers and toilets and is very close to a lift that takes you right to the centre of the ski action. Its details are:
Le Martagon, Caravaneige
Le Raffort
Tel 04 79 00 56 29
I really liked staying there and will be returning this season. I dont think it has a website. At least I cant find one.
The second site I went to was for boarding at Les Arcs. It wasnt quite so handy to the slopes as it is down in the valley. Saying that getting up the mountain is very handy and a funicular railway runs regularly. Being in the valley it isnt as cold at night. Bourg St Maurice is a decent town with some good bars and restraunts.
Check out the campsite website:
http://www.leversoyen.com
There is the site a Chamonix. Ive stayed there during the summer and know its a good site. I havnt been there in the winter so I cant comment on it. As annej says check out www.chamonix.com
Hope this helps a bit.
If you have heard of anywhere else to stay Id love to hear it.
Cheers
Hi Bagpuss
As far as I can tell there are lots of Aires to stop at which have some facilities. UNfortunately I havnt used these as I take my small kids with me and I like to have the relative luxury of a campsite during the winter.
Ive been to a couple of good winter campsites. The first I went to was great for sking at Meribel. The site has showers and toilets and is very close to a lift that takes you right to the centre of the ski action. Its details are:
Le Martagon, Caravaneige
Le Raffort
Tel 04 79 00 56 29
I really liked staying there and will be returning this season. I dont think it has a website. At least I cant find one.
The second site I went to was for boarding at Les Arcs. It wasnt quite so handy to the slopes as it is down in the valley. Saying that getting up the mountain is very handy and a funicular railway runs regularly. Being in the valley it isnt as cold at night. Bourg St Maurice is a decent town with some good bars and restraunts.
Check out the campsite website:
http://www.leversoyen.com
There is the site a Chamonix. Ive stayed there during the summer and know its a good site. I havnt been there in the winter so I cant comment on it. As annej says check out www.chamonix.com
Hope this helps a bit.
If you have heard of anywhere else to stay Id love to hear it.
Cheers
On The Piste!!
Good Question!!
We ski every year and have seen a couple of areas.
La Tania - Foot of 3 valleys ski area 1300m Ski in & Out elec and service point I am going there this Jan with a mate to check out the aire as a location for the 2007 season if you go to www.latania.co.uk there is a link to pictures and on one of the maps you can see a reference to the camping car area. Left of main cable car fron village. Will let you know.
Les Gets - Easily linked into Morzine avoriaz and Portes Du Soleil. We were there in the summer of 2004 for the Mountain biking world cup spectating i must add, though we did take our bikes and loved the VVT (MTB) routes. There seemed to be a big car park at the lower end of the village which was populated with M/H this I was assured by the locals was the norm and in the winter it only gets bigger. I couldn't see any elec or a service point but I am sure there was one.
La Plagne - Plange Soleil area. When we skiied there two years age there was a big area below one of the lifts in this area, we were mere tuggers (caravanners) then so didn't pay much attention to it when my wife and i go back at Feb half term we will throughly investigate and report back with photos.
Val Disere - Possible though I was too busy tring to fiund a parking space for the car the day we went and can't remember much. Large carparks at the La Daille end of the resort with one M/H in but maybe as it was -20 Deg C the rest had moved on.
Be wary of where you park the police in Val Disere are very tight but nice, case in point Parking Ticket read "Thank you for your visit to our resort, you have parked in a restricted bay please move the vehicle". "If you need assistance on where to park please ask at the Police station". The car was left at 8.30am in a bay that seemed fine everyone else was there, the ticket was placed at 9.15am and we returned at 5.30pm didn't have to pay a thing. Can you imagine that inthe UK!!
All in all i think you need to contact the Tourist office in the area you are contemplating going and seek advice. One blessing is that you could access the highaltitude resorts of Les Arcs and Courchevel 1850 without paying a premium for accomm.
Costings.
Ferry? 120 - 250 depending on timing
Fuel How good is your MPG? We have driven there in winter for skiing and reckon on 950 Miles after off the ferry Calais and about £40 each way for tolls - Car pricing!!
Interesting post good luck see you on the piste!!
Good Question!! We ski every year and have seen a couple of areas.
La Tania - Foot of 3 valleys ski area 1300m Ski in & Out elec and service point I am going there this Jan with a mate to check out the aire as a location for the 2007 season if you go to www.latania.co.uk there is a link to pictures and on one of the maps you can see a reference to the camping car area. Left of main cable car fron village. Will let you know.
Les Gets - Easily linked into Morzine avoriaz and Portes Du Soleil. We were there in the summer of 2004 for the Mountain biking world cup spectating i must add, though we did take our bikes and loved the VVT (MTB) routes. There seemed to be a big car park at the lower end of the village which was populated with M/H this I was assured by the locals was the norm and in the winter it only gets bigger. I couldn't see any elec or a service point but I am sure there was one.
La Plagne - Plange Soleil area. When we skiied there two years age there was a big area below one of the lifts in this area, we were mere tuggers (caravanners) then so didn't pay much attention to it when my wife and i go back at Feb half term we will throughly investigate and report back with photos.
Val Disere - Possible though I was too busy tring to fiund a parking space for the car the day we went and can't remember much. Large carparks at the La Daille end of the resort with one M/H in but maybe as it was -20 Deg C the rest had moved on.
Be wary of where you park the police in Val Disere are very tight but nice, case in point Parking Ticket read "Thank you for your visit to our resort, you have parked in a restricted bay please move the vehicle". "If you need assistance on where to park please ask at the Police station". The car was left at 8.30am in a bay that seemed fine everyone else was there, the ticket was placed at 9.15am and we returned at 5.30pm didn't have to pay a thing. Can you imagine that inthe UK!!
All in all i think you need to contact the Tourist office in the area you are contemplating going and seek advice. One blessing is that you could access the highaltitude resorts of Les Arcs and Courchevel 1850 without paying a premium for accomm.
Costings.
Ferry? 120 - 250 depending on timing
Fuel How good is your MPG? We have driven there in winter for skiing and reckon on 950 Miles after off the ferry Calais and about £40 each way for tolls - Car pricing!!
Interesting post good luck see you on the piste!!
Joined
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10,299 Posts
We've done a fair bit of winter camping in France and Germany and its great, we both have 2 left feet and a desire to live to a good age so don't do downhill skiing :wink: but got hooked on cross country skiing, a great sport and easier to master.
The majority of the ski resorts in both countries have either an aire/stellplatz or a site open for the season or both, you'll have no problem finding somewhere to stay.
For sites In France I would recommend the Caravan Clubs book Caravan Europe Vol1 available to non members and list sites open all year or open for the skiing season and for aires either get the aires book or search on the excellent website www.campingcar-infos.com
For Germany you'll need the 'bordatals' the german version of the aires book and the Caravan Europe vol2
As well as the French Alps there is a closer area in the Vosges region of France around Gerardmer, but the snow is not guaranteed, last year there was only a few inches of snow but the previous year there was loads. We usually pass through this region on the way to Southern Germany via the Black forest, another beautiful region but like the Vosges, snow not guaranteed although last year they had quite a bit in January.
Southern Germany is also a great area for wintersports, particularly around Garmisch Partenkirchen and to the east and west.
We've visited quite a few sites and aires in both France and Germany and all are listed in the Campsite database, do a search under my nickname.
pete.
If you need any further info about sites/aires or getting the relevant books send me a pm and i'll try to help
The majority of the ski resorts in both countries have either an aire/stellplatz or a site open for the season or both, you'll have no problem finding somewhere to stay.
For sites In France I would recommend the Caravan Clubs book Caravan Europe Vol1 available to non members and list sites open all year or open for the skiing season and for aires either get the aires book or search on the excellent website www.campingcar-infos.com
For Germany you'll need the 'bordatals' the german version of the aires book and the Caravan Europe vol2
As well as the French Alps there is a closer area in the Vosges region of France around Gerardmer, but the snow is not guaranteed, last year there was only a few inches of snow but the previous year there was loads. We usually pass through this region on the way to Southern Germany via the Black forest, another beautiful region but like the Vosges, snow not guaranteed although last year they had quite a bit in January.
Southern Germany is also a great area for wintersports, particularly around Garmisch Partenkirchen and to the east and west.
We've visited quite a few sites and aires in both France and Germany and all are listed in the Campsite database, do a search under my nickname.
pete.
If you need any further info about sites/aires or getting the relevant books send me a pm and i'll try to help
http://www.campingcar-infos.com/
Just had a look at this site and it is really helpfull even with my French skills. I thinK i will get my wife to take it to school and translate in the language labs!!
Only 4 months to the start of the season propper.
See you all in York.
Just had a look at this site and it is really helpfull even with my French skills. I thinK i will get my wife to take it to school and translate in the language labs!!
Only 4 months to the start of the season propper.
See you all in York.
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